Beatrix Potter ♡ Four Illustrations Today ♡

We have a little garden,
A garden of our own.

Female rabbit entering her burrow.

Gentlemen came every day,
Till Cecily Parsley ran away.

... And this pig has none.

Illustrations from: 

Cecily Parsley's nursery rhymes

found here

Enjoy! xo

Watercolor Over Pencil Drawing Beatrix Potter

Drawing of the kitchen at Spout House (Far Sawrey): background study for The tale of Pigling Bland (1913), watercolour over pencil, by Beatrix Potter, probably 1910. Victoria & Albert Museum I love that she used real interiors as backgrounds in her stories. xo

Peter Rabbit Book 1914 Story by Beatrix Potter Illustrated by Virginia Albert

I HAD NO IDEA BEATRIX POTTER BOOKS WERE EVER ILLUSTRATED BY ANYONE ELSE! This book was published in 1914 and we are so thankful it has been digitized by Project Gutenberg as an eBook. It appears to be a very large children's book. See every page and read the story. Most are full page color illustrations but some are black and white. READ HERE.

See a video of a bookseller holding and talking about Beatrix Potter's 1902 first edition HERE.

Have a great Sunday. 

XO

Merry Christmas from PBS: Downton Abbey Movie

The Downton Abbey Movie that aired in theaters in 2019 is on PBS tonight at 7PM and again on January 2 at 9PM. Check your local listings. You have to watch it live or record because it will not be streamed. In my area it will be repeated on another PBS Channel (WLIW21) on January 3rd at 9PM. ENJOY.

♡ M E R R Y ♡ C H R I S T M A S ♡

xo, Rosemary

This charming Merry Christmas Greeting by Beatrix Potter was found on Tumblr.

Earliest Known Picture Letter from Beatrix Potter 1892

via

These picture letters were written from her seaside vacation to Beatrix Potter's 4 year old nephew with pictures and words he could easily understand. Click on the link called "via" below each picture to see it full size and read further in The Morgan Library & Museum's description. It's so interesting to see the actual penmanship written with a dip pen and see the places where the ink was running low.

via

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Enjoy this delightful glimpse into the life of our favorite author and illustrator.

Isn't this green book Christmas Tree the best?

Found on Tumblr.

Four More Unknown Drawings by Beatrix Potter Discovered While Cleaning

I never discover anything while cleaning but dust and more dust! This bedroom is at Medford Hall, the home of her cousins the Hyde Parkers. All the relatives' homes I've seen are stately mansions and they all should have a sign out front saying "Beatrix Potter Slept Here"

I love here interior renderings and you can see all four here: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-36716973

 
One picture was discovered by Lady Hyde Parker, who lives at Melford Hall with her husband, Sir Richard, where Potter took regular holidays between 1899 and 1916. The article contains a beautiful photo of Medford Hall.

Antique Desk & Mirror Drawing: Beatrix Potter

From 1903 one of Potter's favourite haunts was Gwaynynog in Denbigh Wales, the old rambling home of her uncle and aunt, Fred and Harriet Burton. I am beginning to love her interior sketches as much as those of her animals. Especially because they depict rooms where she stayed when visiting homes of relatives. ©Victoria and Albert Museum

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1386982/sketch-of-a-writing-desk-drawing-beatrix-potter/

🐰The Rabbit's Dream🐰 Drawing Circa 1895-99 by Beatrix Potter

©Victoria & Albert Museum

Beatrix Potter’s drawing

“the Rabbit's Dream” one of four drawn over 4 years

He dreams BIG, doesn't he?

In the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

"Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) is one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators. She wrote the majority of the twenty-three Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale. This is one of four known versions of ‘The Rabbit’s Dream’, all dating from 1895 to 1899. The rabbit shown here – thought to be Potter's pet rabbit, Peter Piper – sleeps in the No. 4 bedroom at Camfield Place. Potter slept in this room when visiting her grandparents before they died, and made a detailed pen and ink drawing of the room. Framing the central rabbit are numerous drawings of him sleeping in different positions, reflecting the many studies of her pets Potter made."

I love learning the history behind her artwork and this one is very special. I love knowing she slept in this very room in her grandparents' house. Her drawing below is also in the Beatrix Potter collection housed in London at The Victoria and Albert Museum. I found it on Google Images. There is a new exhibit opening February 22, 2022 to celebrate her life. Beatrix Potter, Drawn to Nature. Be sure to mark your calendar and visit virtually. I'll try to remind you.

©Victoria and Albert Museum

Isn't this the most charming bedroom ever? I wonder if her grandparents' house was preserved? If so, there should be a sign: "Beatrix slept here." Sweet Dreams! xo

The Tale of Ginger and Pickles: Free Beatrix Potter eBook to read online

I have never read this story, have you? It is online for you to read to someone or just read yourself. It is the entire story with all the delightful pictures by Beatrix Potter. Enjoy!

Link here.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14877/14877-h/14877-h.htm

Project Gutenberg's The Tale of Ginger and Pickles, by Beatrix Potter.  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Beatrix Potter Kitty in Boots

I found an interesting New Yorker article about a new book being published based on a “lost” Potter work about a cat: “The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots,” which she had begun and abandoned two years earlier, in 1914. Several manuscripts of the story were discovered in 2013 in the Potter archive at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Read more here. Beatrix Potter complained to her publisher, "I do not draw cats well." I disagree and think her original drawing is quite charming.

Remembering the Old Ways

Don't you love this photo? I found and started following Michelle Clare @rememberingtheoldways on Instagram. I also love the quote that accompanied this image.

“We cannot stay home all our lives, we must present ourselves to the world and we must look upon it as an adventure.” ~ Beatrix Potter.

Home Page with New Posts, Updates, and Comments!

NOTE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO READ ME FROM EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS: Beginning in JULY, for some reason Google Feedburner is discontinuing EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS of my new blog posts. You will have to bookmark my blog or put a shortcut on your desktop and search for me yourself 😥 

If you don't know how to do those things you can just google me using these searches words "content in a cottage" to find my blog.

I do post almost every day, usually in the morning. Thank you to all of my followers. So sorry about this but it's out of my control.

xo, Rosemary

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HILL TOP: Beatrix Potter's Farmhouse

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If you happen to find yourself in the Lake District, be sure to visit Beatrix Potter's house. Large view of the photo below and more photos in this Lake District link. Enjoy your virtual visit. xo

Home Page with Updates & Additions

 

Beatrix Potter Quote

Sage advice from Beatrix Potter. 

Found on Pinterest

♡Home Page♡

 

Thanksgiving Shopping: Beatrix Potter

I am always happy when I find another new to me image by Beatrix Potter and I love this one. Have you started your Thanksgiving shopping yet? Some of these animals are enjoying friendship outside the store to catch up on the local gossip before going inside. Won't it be nice we WE can do this once again? xo

New Watercolor by Beatrix Potter

At Evening’s Close by Helen Beatrix Potter circa 1902. I am always thrilled to find another charming watercolor by Beatrix Potter and this one is delightful! It is evening's close at my cottage so this is  very fitting. xo via

Simpkin 1902 - Beatrix Potter Artwork

Simpkin at the Tailor’s Bedside, c.1902 by Helen Beatrix Potter (English, 1866–1943)

This is yet another illustration that is new to me. It is very charming, isn't it. The tailor of Gloucester appears to be doing needlework in bed and kind Simpkin is bring him a cup of tea. I love the big bed with a window view. The bedding is quite lovely too. xo via

Beatrix Potter: Old Mr Pricklepin

Yet another new to me image by Beatrix Potter in 1905. Old Mr. Prickly Pin, later renamed Mr. Pricklepin. A hedgehog wearing shoes! How quaint.

OLD Mr. Pricklepin

⁠has never a cushion to

⁠stick his pins in,

His nose is black and his

⁠beard is gray,

And he lives in an ash stump

⁠over the way.

Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes.

Beatrix Potter: Rabbits making A Snowman

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! 

Here is yet another original Beatrix Potter watercolor that is new to me. via

Happy Christmas by Beatrix Potter

A Happy Christmas to You

The greeting is very faint and Beatrix Potter signed this rare watercolor with her initials only HBP circa 1890. This rabbit family is getting ready to enjoy their Christmas Pudding! See the full-size image and read the provenance ©Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

Unseen Beatrix Potter drawings found inside books at Melford Hall Suffolk

Hooray for the cleaning lady who discovered these unseen drawings while she was dusting the books at Melford Hall, a stately mansion in Suffolk England. The delicate drawings depict scenes inside and outside Melford Hall, a Tudor mansion owned by relatives of Potter, whom she visited often between 1899 and 1938. Potter and her cousin Ethel Leech were very close, growing up together in Kensington. After Leech married Reverend Sir William Hyde Parker in 1890, Potter would often stay with her at Melford Hall. Read the entire article here. Old books hide many secrets, don't they? xo